Pakistan will go to polls as scheduled as it is a golden opportunity to usher in an era of true democratic values in the country, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has said amid mounting attacks by the Taliban to derail the historic general elections.

Gilgit-Baltistan might be the last thing on the minds of Pakistan’s election-contesting parties — none of them have included these far-flung northern areas in their manifestos — but its more politically inclined residents are keeping a close eye on who gets to form a government in Islamabad come May 11.

In Lakki Marwat, a southern district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, women are stepping forward to campaign for the ANP – going door-to-door and holding corner meetings to convince people to vote for the party.

Two young workers of the PPP were killed in Lyari while they were busy making arrangements for a corner meeting in the area as part of the on-going election campaign in an armed attack that also left two men and a nine-year-old girl wounded, police and party sources said.

PEMRA Chairman Chaudhry Rashid Ahmad urged the newly elected body of Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP) to follow code of conduct of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for ensuring transparent elections in the country.

Musharraf will spend Pakistan’s general election day under lock and key after a court on Tuesday extended his house arrest over the murder of Benazir Bhutto. An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi put Musharraf on a 14-day judicial remand over the death of the former prime minister.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Wednesday paid tribute to the assassinated chairman of his party, Azeem Ahmed Tariq, and other Haq Parasts for sacrificing their lives. In a statement issued on the 20th death anniversary of Tariq, he said that their blood would not go in vain as the day was not far away for the Haq Parast movement to reach its destination.

Expressing concerns over alleged pre-polls rigging in NA-47 Frontier Region, Kohat, Abidur Rahman, an independent candidate, has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to take notice of the issue and ensure free, fair and transparent elections.

A man was shot dead here in Ferozewala on Wednesday, apparently in a dispute over the placement of election advertisements. Iftikhar Jafri, 40, was putting up banners and posters in support of PML-Q candidate for PP-164 Syed Ali Abbas Gul Agha in Imamia Colony and sought to place one near the office of Chaudhry Abbas Gujjar, who is supporting a PML-N candidate at NA-132.

At least five activists of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have been injured in a hand grenade attack on an election campaign office of the party on Arbab Ghulam Ali Road in Killi Deba area of Quetta on Wednesday night.

In a startling claim, PTI chief Imran Khan has said that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was not killed by the Taliban. Speaking in an interview with British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, the PTI chief said that Bhutto had been “clearly killed by people worried she was going to come into power”. He did not say whether his claim was based on any concrete evidence that he was privy to.

The district returning officer (DRO) has warned PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, accused of violating code of conduct of Election Commission of Pakistan, to appear before his office on the next hearing otherwise criminal proceedings will be initiated against her.

Since the arrest of former president General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, his supporters in Skardu have escalated their campaigns in his favour. Public sympathy for Musharraf has intensified in the town after Kacho Nisar, a die-hard supporter of Musharraf, suffered a heart attack out of grief and died after hearing the news of his arrest.

MQM on Thursday informed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that rigging is planned is 35 polling stations on May 11. In a letter addressed to the ECP, MQM’s senior leader Farooq Sattar said that rigging is planned in National Assembly constituencies NA-248 and NA-249. Sattar demanded that the ECP should take notice of the situation.

Chief of MQM Altaf Hussain hailed Army Chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for expressing his absolute commitment and support to the cause of democracy in country.”General Kayani has practically demonstrated to be a soldier who is always prepared for the defence of the country and the nation,” said Altaf Hussain.

A blast near an election office on Burns Road in Karachi on Thursday evening injured at least 8 people. The explosion occurred near an election office of MQM where many party workers were present at the time of the explosion. The election office is an old MQM sector office located near the popular food street on Burns Road.

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan, a Sindh election commission member and others on a petition seeking action against election commission members for filing a false report on the delimitation of constituencies in Nausheroferoz.

Prime Minister, Justice (r) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso has decided to place the National Crises Management Cell (NCMC), presently working under the Ministry of Interior, at the disposal of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). This decision was taken by the Prime Minister to allay concerns raised by the ECP regarding the law and order situation.

Activists of two political parties quarrelled and resorted to aerial firing during an election campaign in Mingora. Workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) accused each other of starting the confrontation in separate press conferences held after the incident.

PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said that after coming into power his party would devise economic policy by consulting business community. He claimed that his party had suggested to the current government that the country’s economy could be strengthened by providing opportunities to the business community.

Bombers on Thursday blew up two schools designated as polling stations for Pakistan’s general election next week, police said. A boys’ primary school and a middle school were bombed at the village of Chattar in Naseerabad district in the south-western province of Balochistan.

Gunmen on Friday shot to death the Pakistani government’s top prosecutor in a case accusing former military ruler Pervez Musharraf of involvement in the 2007 assassination of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto, police said. The gunmen opened fire on Chaudhry Zulfikar’s car as he was leaving his home en route to an anti-terrorism court in nearby Rawalpindi for trial proceedings in the Bhutto case.

PTI is beating its rivals in at least one area ahead of the elections: in spending on posters and banners on the streets and roads of Lahore. According to figures obtained from the Parks and Horticulture Authority, PTI candidates have spent around Rs1.8 million on posters and banners advertising their candidacy, followed by candidates from the PML-N (Rs1.3 million), PPP (Rs900,000), Jamaat-i-Islami (Rs200,000), MQM (Rs90,000), PML-Q (Rs55,000) and independent candidates (Rs65,000).

Of the four national and provincial seats of Rawalpindi being fought by PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, he has understandably not opted for his party’s ticket for a Punjab Assembly constituency, PP-6, and is in the run as an independent candidate. He said he wanted to independently fight and defeat his personal opponent who is a land grabber.

Backers of independent political candidate Haji Usman Ghani took to the Arabian Sea on Friday on a flotilla of fishing boats to rally for the challenges faced by their embattled fishing community. He is contesting May 11 elections for the Sindh provincial assembly from a constituency near the southern port of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, and many of his prospective voters work in the fishing industry on the nearby coast.

MQM has been sweeping the NA-254 seat since the first elections it contested in 1988, but the newcomers are hoping to break the winning streak. Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan’s (JUP) Allama Rajab Naeemi is hoping to put a dent in the vote bank. A joint candidate of the 10-party alliance formed in Sindh against the MQM and the PPP, Naeemi has the support of the PML-N, PML-F, JI, and the nationalist parties.

MQM has accused the PML-N of having a militant wing that carried out the thickly populated Burns Road bombing late on Thursday. The MQM Coordination Committee in its investigation report released to the media alleged that the militant wing of the PML-N comprised radical religious elements who carried out the bombing while the party’s chief Nawaz Sharif was in city. The report said the committee is probing possibility of the militants’ arrival in Sindh along with the participants of an election rally in Thatta held on Thursday morning.

A sense of fear prevailed among residents of Peshawar after the Taliban warned people not to cast their vote in general elections. They termed democracy as against the ‘teachings of Islam.’ Letters put up on walls in different locations, including the Hameed Khan Machine, Captain Tor Khan Kalay and Iqra Public School in Sherkera area warned people against voting. This was the first time the Taliban warned people through letters in the Sherkera area.

Pakistan’s tribal belt may have been dubbed the world’s most dangerous place by the United States, but enthusiastic tribesmen are defying the Taliban to vote for change at next week’s polls. After years of army offensives designed to clear out Pakistani Taliban hideouts, some of the 1.7 million registered voters in FATA say they feel safe enough to vote and even that women, normally kept in purdah, will vote.

The Election Commission of Pakistan’s code of conduct barring candidates from arranging transport for voters on the polling day may affect women voters’ turnout, say women activists who are monitoring the pre-poll situation in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Lahore High Court full bench Friday restrained all television channels from airing a PPP-sponsored “paid content advertisement” containing an alleged conversation between Shahbaz Sharif and Justice (retired) Malik Muhammad Qayyum and directed PEMRA to ensure the ban immediately. The full bench issued this order on a writ petition moved by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif against the ECP, PEMRA, PBA and the PPP.The court ruled that this paid content advertisement is sheer violation of code of conduct issued by the ECP.

A firing incident in Bilal Colony of Korangi area killed an ANP candidate and his four-year-old son on Friday. Sadiq Zaman Khattak was contesting elections from the constituency of NA-254. Earlier on Friday, firing in the areas of Paposh, Chandni Chowk and Korangi killed two people and injured two others.

ANP has announced a Day of Mourning on Saturday against the cold-blooded killing of its candidate Saddiq Zaman Khattak and his son in Karachi on Friday. ANP Sindh chapter leader Shahid Syed appealed to people of Karachi to mark the day of mourn peacefully keeping their businesses open and transport on the roads.

LHC full bench on Friday disqualified Chaudhry Maqsood Sulehriya, a joint candidate of PPP and PML-Q, to contest election from NA-114, Sialkot. The full bench passed the orders on a writ petition moved by Ahsan Abbas, voter of the constituency. The petitioner through counsel told the bench that Maqsood Sulehriya was owner of a steels mill that was a tax defaulter.